|
Dear Friends,
?
Congratulations to the Andover Husky Girls Basketball Team who is headed to state!
We had another busy week at the Capitol!
Straw purchases
Yesterday, I voted to declare an urgency on the Floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives to immediately take up my bill, HF 548, which would increase the penalty for transferring firearms to prohibited persons, known as straw purchasing.
This comes after news that federal authorities indicted the girlfriend of the individual who killed three first responders in Burnsville last month, Shannon Gooden, for straw purchasing the firearms used in the tragedy. Gooden was prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms.
I believe that this charging decision illustrates the importance of increasing the state-level penalties for those who illegally give guns to prohibited persons. Though straw purchases are already illegal under state law, it is rarely charged because the penalty is only a gross misdemeanor. Increasing this penalty is an effective, commonsense way to reduce violent crime and prevent future tragedies like what we saw in Burnsville last month.
The DFL?s lack of urgency and repeated refusals to even give this bill a hearing is incomprehensible. I?ve advocated for and carried this bill for five years. The sobering question is, would our three fallen first responders be alive today if the bill had passed even last year?
The motion failed 66-60 on the Floor yesterday. You can watch my comments and the discussion here.
?
School Resource Officer Compromise
This week we were finally able to solve an issue that?s been plaguing schools all over the state for seven months ? the school resource officer issue. After a short conference committee, we passed the bill off the House Floor one final time this week and it has finally been signed into law. The compromise deals with use of force standards, but most importantly it will allow school resource officers to protect our children all across the state. This fix was far overdue and I?m glad that the House Republicans were able to get this done despite the DFL?s attempts to stall the bill.
?
Physician Assisted Suicide Bill
This week in the Judiciary Committee, we heard the physician assisted suicide bill, HF 1930. I have many concerns with this bill from both moral and policy perspectives and they?re accurately summarized in this clip from the hearing this week. Some of my concerns with the bill are that this bill requires doctors to lie on death certificates, saying that the terminal illness was the cause of death when in reality a lethal dose of drugs would be the actual cause of death. Additionally, we heard from several doctors and nurses who went into the health care field to be healers, not destroyers of life. This is a slippery slope that has led to assisted suicide for those who are depressed and who have such diseases as diabetes. I am not unsympathetic to those suffering from horrible diseases, but the answer is to provide the needed care and support these people need, not force doctors to recommend and or prescribe a lethal dose of a medicine that will kill the patient.
?
Constituent Meeting
Yesterday I had a great conversation with physical therapy students and practitioners from my district!
|
|
